Dabbling in Drabbling
by enchantedsleeper
Summary: A collection of YYH drabbles, doubles, and pentadrabbles inspired by the anime. Some feature 'deleted scenes' and unexplored points of view; others are simply the product of my mad imagination. #10 - While training for the Dark Tournament, Kuwabara revises his perceptions of Kurama and Hiei.
1. Mystification, Misericordiam

**Author's Notes: **I know, I'm starting YET ANOTHER new project xD But this one will be a lot more manageable, I promise. After all, I only have 100 words to write per instalment, instead of my usual 3000 or however many it turns out to be x3 Of course, keeping the word count down to 100 is a challenge in itself, but a fun one.

I believe this first drabble is technically called a 'double' because it's 200 words instead of 100. It could easily be two separate drabbles, but they were written to go together, so I'm putting them up together. I wanted to write a fic about the House of Four Dimensions, you see, from Kaito's POV, but couldn't think of enough material for a full-length fic, short of rewriting most of the episode, which is boring for you guys to read. That was how the idea of a drabble came about, and it only seemed natural that I should write an equivalent one for Kurama too.

Kaito's superiority and smugness in those two episodes really gets under my skin, even though I know he's not a bad guy. So, I like to think that perhaps for all his disdain, he could see the strong bond of friendship between Hiei, Kurama, Kuwabara and Botan (and Yusuke even though he was incapacitated at the time x3) and envied them for it. Which is what this drabble is about :3

**Disclaimer: **ohsukaH uY uY nwo t'nod I

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**Drabble #1: Which Actually Has Two Parts To It**

**Mystification – Kaito**

It was incomprehensible – that Shuichi could be friends with these people.

They attacked blindly, without so much as a thought, lashing out with fists and swords at anything that got in their way. No intellect, no logic, just mindless violence. And how I hated violence.

Predictably, they were each ensnared, victims of their own stupidity, until only Shuichi the great mastermind was left: free to outwit me without them blundering into his path. I'd have thought he'd be relieved.

But I saw the look in his eye, promising unimaginable pain if one soul was even scratched.

And I envied him.

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**Misericordiam – Kurama**

I had never exchanged words with Kaito, but I knew his type; could hazard a guess at the past which led him to abhor violence. But it wasn't for that I pitied him.

He saw Yusuke as a punk, Kuwabara as a thug, Botan as a ditz, Hiei as a bully… and myself as a rival. Each judgement, each condemnation made in terms of our intelligence.

He couldn't see beyond the tough talk and rash actions to Yusuke's heart, Kuwabara's chivalry, Botan's faith, Hiei's honour. He was as ignorant as he accused them of being.

For that I pitied him.

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**Author's Notes: **I was looking up 'pity' in the thesaurus to try and come up with a decent title for this second drabble, preferably something that began with the letter M, for the sake of symmetry. (You can probably tell that I like my symmetry). And I came across the phrase 'argumentum ad misericordiam', which is means 'appeal to pity'. (Look it up on Wikipedia for more information). I deduced then that 'misericordiam' probably meant 'pity' or something along those lines, and it became my title.

Please review ^^ And if anyone here is a reader of 'Genres', don't worry, I'll be updating it soon. Hopefully 'Ice Maiden', too. If you're not a reader of either of those yet… please do check them out =D


	2. Extremities

**Author's Notes: **…Not much more to say since I put this story up yesterday, especially since I haven't had any reviews yet xD

I love to read fics about Kurama's ears in his Youko form, but so far I've only found one ('Purr' by Windswift) plus a sentence in Blossomwitch's fic 'Sentences' which I HOPE might become a fully-fledged fic one day (hint, HINT!) so I decided I would write one myself. Then I thought, why not include his tail, too?

**Disclaimer (in haiku form): **I have never owned

The fantastic YYH

And I never will

…I have to entertain myself somehow with these things ^^;

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**Drabble #2: Extremities**

_Tug._

Kurama stiffened. "Did someone just… pull my tail?"

"Hn. As if."

"Wasn't me, Kurama."

"Hehe, wasn't me either."

"Your expression says otherwise, Yusuke. I'd rather you didn't."

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_Tug-tug._

"_Yusuke!_"

"You said you'd rather I didn't! You didn't say don't! …Sorry, I'll stop. Don't kill me."

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_Tug._

"Yusuke, I'm **warning** you-"

"It wasn't me that time! Try the guy standing behind you."

"_Hiei?_"

Hiei smirked.

"Everyone **stop** touching, or I'll-"

"You made it back okay!! Oh, Kurama, you transformed into Youko!"

"Botan, don't-"

"What?"

"…Nothing… Thought he said we couldn't touch…"

"Maybe ears don't count."

"Didn't think foxes purred, either."

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**Author's Notes: **DID YOU GET IT? =D This isn't meant to be Kurama/Botan, though you can interpret it like that if you really want to. I had a hard time cutting it down to 100 words, but I was determined not to cop out and write a double. Thank goodness Yusuke can miss out pronouns in his speech and still be kept in-character. Kurama is not so flexible.

REVUE PLZ


	3. Hibernate

**Author's Notes: **More Yu Yu Hakusho, hooray! I'm going through a phase of loving YYH right now. I've been re-watching the anime and noting down drabble ideas as I go along. Drabbles are so fun and satisfying to write, and I love the challenge of the word limit. I just finished episode 58 and couldn't resist writing a little piece about one of the cutest Hiei moments EVER.

**Disclaimer: **I am not the owner of the glorious, hilarious, adorable, lovable, excitable, wonderful, huggable, AWESOME YYH.

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**Drabble #3: Hibernate**

Hiei felt exhaustion rush to greet him like the dragon he'd just consumed. Every drop of energy in his body was drained. His legs trembled under the strain of supporting him.

He forced himself to stagger over to his teammates. Their words swirled chaotically around his numb senses. Fear, exultation, relief, calm amusement. Kurama, of course.

He struggled against oblivion. Part of him was terrified of being so vulnerable in sleep. He masked it with his usual insults.

"If I wake up… and we've lost I swear I'll… kill… you… all…" His hold broke and he fell backwards into black.


	4. Diary

**Drabble #4: Diary**

**Author's Notes: **So I originally set out to write a drabble about Botan finding and reading Keiko's diary, but well… you'll see. Let's just say I came up with a better idea. This drabble has two versions, slightly different in execution. Both are exactly 100 words. I think #2 is the better version, but I like #1 as well, and since I worked hard on them both I decided to put both up.

Oh, and I suppose I should warn you that this chapter contains mentions of boysex x3 Even though that spoils things slightly, but I don't want to get flamed for not having warned people. If you don't like, then back away now!

**Disclaimer: **blah blah do not own blah blah blah you get the picture.

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**Version 1**

Botan had seen Keiko writing in her diary every evening before bed. She knew she should never betray Keiko's trust, but ached to find out what was in it. One night, she spotted a slim corner peeking out from underneath the sofa, and the temptation was too great. Kitten ears popped out as she dived for the diary.

"Ah-ha! Now we'll see what dirty secrets are kept in here!"

She leafed through the pages until she happened upon some racy prose. "Meow!" But as she began to read, she realised the feminine-looking handwriting had a very different author.

_"Kurama?"_

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**Version 2**

Botan tried to keep her nosiness under control. But the corner of a notebook peeking out from under the sofa proved too great a temptation. "Wonder who this belongs to! Let's see…"

Five minutes later, red and flustered, she re-joined the group waiting outside.

"Botan? Did you get the handcream?" Keiko asked.

"What? Oh… no…"

"Is something wrong?"

_Every time that Hiei and I are in the room together I get flashes of his toned body, his aroused gaze, the feeling of him pounding into me…_

"No! Not at all! By the way, did you know Kurama keeps a diary?"

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**Author's Notes: **Because of that one sentence, I've had to up the rating of this fic to a T xD Just in case.


	5. Second Star to the Right

**Author's Notes:** As always when I get back into Yu Yu Hakusho, I've written another drabble. Well, a double. It's the easiest way to indulge my love of writing fanfic without the time commitment of a long update. (Sorry to everyone who is waiting for updates on all my various fics... I'll do something about that soon...)

See the end of the fic for an explanation about how this story came about. xD Because I can never resist rambling on about my writing process.

**Disclaimer: **Sadly, I own neither Yu Yu Hakusho nor Peter Pan. Oh, to own both or either…

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**Drabble #5 – Second Star to the Right**

Growing up in the human world, Kurama had always despised human fairy tales. He found them to be wildly unrealistic and loathsomely sappy. Centuries of deceit, violence and betrayal in the demon world tended to destroy your belief in a happy ending.

But in recent years, he'd found one that resonated with his current situation in a way he could never have foreseen. He'd taken to perusing the story late at night, when he was bored or lonely.

Kurama turned the page to an illustration of Wendy leaning on the windowsill, gazing up at the second star to the right and waiting, for someone who would take her from her dull and repetitive everyday life to a world of excitement and adventure. He went to his own window, which like hers was left unlocked for one who might never reappear. He pushed it open, letting in the chill night air, and leaned on the windowsill. Waiting.

Hours later, he awoke at his desk, lifting his head groggily from the book he'd been using as a pillow. He looked to the window and saw a crouched figure, a pair of glowing red eyes, and smiled.

"Come to take me to Neverland?"

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**Author's Notes: **So after going on a reading spree of Hiei and Kurama fics (both friendship and romance) and the copious mentions of Kurama leaving his window open for Hiei in case he ever came back out of the blue… well, the parallels to Peter Pan could hardly be more obvious, could they? At least to me, as someone who grew up a die-hard Peter Pan fan. I was originally going to write this as a crossover, but honestly, there were _too_ many similarities. Half the fun of writing crossovers is spotting similarities between two fandoms, and the other half is changing the differences cleverly to fit. Kurama and Hiei's situation is so truly near-identical that it wouldn't have been any challenge – although I am still entertaining the idea of a fully-fledged crossover even so xD Anyway, until then, you get this.

Damn, now I can't stop thinking about that crossover…


	6. First Impression

**Author's Note:** Damn, I can't seem to stop writing these! This one became a pentadrabble because I just had too much I wanted to fit into the scene, and I needed to get a decent build-up going for the eventual payoff in the last few lines. This fic also came about because I realised all my drabbles so far have centred around either Hiei or Kurama, or both, in some way. I can happily admit to being obsessed with those two, but I wanted this collection to have a bit of variety, and I do love Yusuke/Keiko as well. They're a fun couple, and writing from Yusuke's point of view (well, in 3rd person) is unexpectedly enjoyable xD

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any part of this franchise or its characters, but am simply borrowing them for the sake of fanfiction.

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**Drabble #6 – First Impression**

Yusuke sulked all the way back up to the hotel, carrying that stupid stuffed rabbit-penguin-thing on his head. The others were going to laugh even worse than Koenma and Botan when they saw this. He knew how much Kuwabara would love the opportunity to tease him over it. And yeah, he was glad he hadn't been completely devoured body and soul, yadda yadda, but couldn't his spirit beast have been a _bit_ more badass? How was he supposed to appear manly in front of Keiko now?

Kuwabara was drinking a can of soda when Yusuke entered the room. He took one look at Yusuke and sprayed an impressive fountain out of his nose with laughter.

"Yeah, I hope you choke to death on that," Yusuke said with a dark look at his friend. "Ass."

"Urameshi – haha – you've got something on your head – ahahaha-"

"Oh stow it," said Yusuke as the stupid thing on his head made cooing noises. "You too, ya big blue marshmallow."

There was a knock at the door, and Yusuke steeled himself. Botan's mischievous face peeked around it.

"Hello there, I brought everyone up to see Yusuke's newly-hatched spirit beast! I thought we could have a little hatching party." Her eyes gleamed.

Yukina, Shizuru and Keiko all proceeded past Botan into the room. Yusuke quickly snatched the blue powder puff off his head and hid it behind his back. He wanted to put off Keiko's inevitable reaction to the ridiculous thing a little bit longer.

"So Yusuke, where's your spirit beast? I wanna see it," said Keiko, looking around the room.

"Yeah, Botan tells us it's a real ringer for your true personality," Shizuru added with an amused expression, taking out a cigarette and lighting up.

"Puu!" came the telltale noise from behind Yusuke's back, and Keiko walked over to him.

"Where's that coming from? C'mon, show me." She wasn't angry yet, but that glint in her eye showed she might be soon. With a sigh, Yusuke brought his huggable inner self out from behind his back.

"Here's the damn thing."

He was unprepared for Keiko's gasp of delight. "Oh look, it's so adorable!" She seized hold of the long-eared furball and cuddled it to her chest. "Aren't you a cutie?" Puu chirped happily as she tickled it in the stomach.

Yusuke looked on in slight disbelief, wishing she would show his actual self the same unrestrained affection as his inner self. Still, he couldn't deny it made him feel kind of warm inside. Puu was still a part of him, and Keiko loved and accepted it wholeheartedly.

Puu was passed around among his adoring fans, and amidst the babble of talk and laughter, Keiko murmured to Yusuke,

"Your inner self really is sweet… This just proves what I've been telling people all along." She threw Yusuke a fond look and then went over to socialise with the others.

Yusuke scratched the back of his head and reflected that maybe manly wasn't what Keiko wanted after all.


	7. Deception

**Author's Note: **Oops, another Kurama-centric one… I can't help it, he's my favourite character and the most fun to write about! I'm pondering a Keiko-centric idea for the next fic though. Trying to keep things varied xD

**Disclaimer: **I've decided to use this as an opportunity to practice writing in the voice of different YYH characters. First up is Kurama.

"I believe I have already informed you that ownership of the series Yu Yu Hakusho is not mine to claim. It would be wise if you did not ask me again."

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**Drabble #7: Deception**

Kurama had spent centuries refining the art of deception. It was his greatest asset in battle and his most relied-upon tactic. Distraction, illusion, sleight of hand; he employed them all to deadly effect.

He would rather fight any of those battles again than face the challenge that rose before him now. He felt a dozen pairs of eyes boring into him, awaiting his performance. What could he do to deflect their attention? To conceal his true skill?

A sharp whistle blast sounded. "Minamino, you're up!"

Kurama sighed and launched himself awkwardly over the vaulting horse.

He really hated gym class.


	8. Ten

**Author's Notes: **I really did intend to write a Keiko drabble for this one, but my muse had other ideas. (Sorry, Keiko. You'll have to wait a bit). I'm (re-)watching the Dark Tournament finals in the YYH anime currently, and I got to thinking about the count to ten and what it meant for our boys as they fought in the tournament.

Of course, I'm not going to go into the number of times that rule is abused… (Just finished watching Kurama's fight with Karasu. WHAT A RIDICULOUS FARCE. IF THEY ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO ENFORCE THAT RULE FOR THE REST OF THE TOURNAMENT, EVERY SINGLE FIGHT WOULD HAVE HAD A DIFFERENT OUTCOME. *seethes with deadly rage*)

Ahem.

**Disclaimer:** I've decided to use this as an opportunity to practice writing in the voice of different YYH characters. Next up is Botan!

"I'm just going to sit over here and write some stories about characters I don't own! Meow, meow… =^^= Please don't sue me… ^^;"

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**Drabble #8: Ten**

"Ten" was the magic word. It had the power to end any agony, one way or another.

With it came the crashing despair of defeat, or the sweeping triumph of victory. The count to ten could pass so quickly when you were on the ground, struggling to rise and remain in the tournament; or so slowly, as you swayed on the spot, willing your opponent to stay floored.

Time and time again, the members of Team Urameshi were sent sprawling to the ground or flung outside the ring. Blood-soaked, bruised and drained, they staggered to their feet and battled on.


	9. Betrayal

**Author's Notes: **As usual, the content of my drabbles follows whatever bit of the anime I happen to be watching currently. I've gone back in time to watch the Four Saint Beasts arc (ah, back in the simple days where Yusuke's shotgun was considered an impressive attack xD) and was thinking of writing a drabble about Hiei's thoughts at the Gate of Betrayal. In the end I wrote about a slightly later part, but betrayal is still a heavy theme. And it's a double because I'm verbose.

**Disclaimer:** I've decided to use this as an opportunity to practice writing in the voice of different YYH characters. Next up is Hiei!

"Hn. If you think I'm going to let you sue me just because I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, you've got another think coming. My Darkness technique ought to finish you off nicely."

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**Drabble #9: Betrayal**

Hiei ignored Kurama expounding on his possible motives for wanting to fight Seiryu. _Don't pretend you know so little about what motivates me, fox. Or are you still in denial about what you did?_

He knew about betrayal first-hand; he knew how it cut through your gut like a knife. But was that the only reason he was taking this fight so personally?

What disturbed him more was how familiar Seiryu's reasoning sounded. _"He was a weapon, not a friend, and like a cheap sword, he rusted."_ The words could have been taken from inside his own head. How many times had he formed an 'alliance' with another, only to discard them once they'd outlived their usefulness?

He probably would have betrayed Kurama too, if the fox hadn't got there first.

As he took up a fighting stance against Seiryu, it wasn't the ice wielder he saw standing opposite him, but himself. Hiei's spirit energy glowed fiercely as he stared himself down.

_This is what you get for thinking you can do without anyone, _he taunted. _You cling to that 'honour' code whilst stabbing everyone around you in the back! I'll show __**you**__ what a true warrior spirit consists of._


	10. Perceptions

**Disclaimer:** I've decided to use this as an opportunity to practice writing in the voice of different YYH characters. Next up is Genkai!

"Don't tell me you've already forgotten that I don't own this series? Dimwit! I don't have time to waste with morons who forget every word I say. Now get lost."

**Author's Notes:** Keeping to a specific word count is really hard when you're trying to write as a particular character, because you don't want to cut out things that make their speech patterns distinctive. I nearly copped out and went over 200 on this one, but then I found a line I could cut without losing any of the important meaning.

Kuwabara's not my favourite Yu Yu character, and most of the time he's on screen I just cringe and skip over his stupid flirting or his awful battles. But he can also have some interesting things to say when he goes all philosophical, and I tried to tap into that side of his character when writing this. He's a really good guy, I just wish that he wasn't played for laughs 99 percent of the time.

(I switched the Disclaimer and Author's Notes around for this chapter so that people wouldn't be reading the fic in Genkai's voice. I could have just done Kuwabara for the disclaimer, but for some reason I couldn't think of anything to put as him…)

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**Drabble #10: Perceptions**

I used to think Kurama was the nice guy, and Shorty was the mean one, 'cause Kurama's always polite when he talks to people, and Shorty's always spouting off insults. It took training for the Dark Tournament with them to show me how wrong I was.

Hiei pushes people away with how he acts, but he has a real code of honour. I mean, he took down that Seiryu guy because of how he treated his teammate, even though both of them were our enemies. In our training, I sensed he was holding back on me because I'm not so good with a sword. Even while he was callin' me an idiot he still lowered his level down to mine.

Kurama though… With him, it's the nice-guy thing that's the act. I saw a little bit past it and I didn't want to see any more. I've never fought someone so calculating. But he still helped me, and gave me some good advice about finding your enemy's weak points.

I learned a lot from them about fighting, but mostly I learned how wrong your perceptions can be. However this tournament goes, I'll be glad to have them on my side.


End file.
